AP English Literature and Composition

Summer Reading 2017

Assignment 1:The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from the garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo’s fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy.

Against this backdrop, Orleanna Price reconstructs the story of her evangelist husband’s part in the Western assault on Africa, a tale indelibly darkened by her own losses and unanswerable questions about her own culpability. Also narrating the story, by turns, are her four daughters—the self-centered, teenaged Rachel; shrewd adolescent twins Leah and Adah; and Ruth May, a prescient five-year-old. These sharply observant girls, who arrive in the Congo with racial preconceptions forged in 1950s Georgia, will be marked in surprisingly separate path to salvation. Their passionately intertwined stories become a compelling exploration of moral risk and personal responsibility.

Dancing between the dark comedy of human failings and breathtaking possibilities of human hope, The Poisonwood Bible possesses all that has distinguished Barbara Kingsolver’s previous work, and extends this beloved writer’s vision to an entirely new level. Taking its place alongside the classic works of postcolonial literature, this ambitious novel establishes Kingsolver as one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers.

--The Nation

While you are reading The Poisonwood Bible, you should use the following study questions to guide your annotation and understanding of the text. Select one topic and respond in an essay. Use MLA format for your essay. Pay close attention to headers and Works Cited. You may use sources other than The Poisonwood Bible, but make sure you cite them both in-text (parenthetical) and in the Works Cited page. Your essay will be submitted to Turn It In within the first two weeks of class; it all depends on when I get the computers. Any similarities to Sparknotes, End Notes, Cliff Notes, or the like will result in a zero for the assignment. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! (Note: I’ve read most of what’s written on those sites…I’m pretty familiar with them….) The following must be present in your essay:

  1. An introductory paragraph that captures the interest of your audience (your AP teacher)
  2. A persuasive thesis statement that demonstrates maturity and the ability to sustain a persuasive argument.
  3. Body paragraphs that support your thesis with apt and specific textual evidence, embedding quotes from Kingsolver’s work that support your thesis.
  4. Topic sentences.
  5. Transitions that help the writing move from one topic to the next.
  6. Grammatically correct sentences and paragraphs.
  7. Stylistic maturity including concise and precise writing.
  8. A concluding paragraph that closes your essay (not using cliché terms like “In conclusion...you know how much I hate that…)
  9. USE THIRD PERSON ONLY!
  10. NO CONTRACTIONS!
  11. NO “A LOT” PLEASE!!!!!!!!

TOPICS: Choose ONE. It is in your best interest to choose it before you start reading so that you can annotate and make notes as you read.

  1. The novel opens with a narrative directive, presumably to the reader: Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened. First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees. What is the effect of this directive on you as a reader? What does it suggest about the novel that’s about to unfold? As Orleanna continues her narration, who does the “you” that she is speaking to appear to be? To what great disasters does she allude? Why is she telling the story looking back (past) on Africa while the girls seem to tell it as if it’s happening (present) in Africa? “And now we are here” (Kingsolver 13).
  2. How does Kingsolver use voice to characterize each sister? Which sister’s voice is the most compelling for you?
  3. Kingsolver has said, in talking about how she names her characters, that, “A name has to be just right: memorable, culturally appropriate, original but not silly. And ideally, it carries some meaning that coincides nicely with the person’s intentions and character.” Consider the significance of names in The Poisonwood Bible.
  4. Book Two is entitled “The Revelation” and the girls’ section is entitles “The Things We Learned”. Whose revelation? What is the revelation? What do the girls learn?
  5. Patrice Lumumba: Kingsolver’s novel arguably is as much about Patrice Lumumba and the historical events in the Congo in the early 1960s as it is about the Price family. As you read, consider how the political events in the Congo affect and mirror what is happening to and within the Price family.
  6. What is the significance of the Kikongo word nommo and its attendant concepts of being and naming?
  7. How do the Price sisters’ Christian names and their acquired Kikingo names reflect their personalities and behaviors?
  8. The African concepts of nommo and muntu are introduced. Explain them. How do these ideas compare to similar Western concepts of naming and existence?
  9. What ideas are examined about justice and balance/betrayal and salvation/guilt and innocence/freedom and captivity?
  10. Orleanna says, “To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals really know,” (p. 385). Adah says, about her mother, “…she constantly addresses the ground under her feet. Asking forgiveness. Owning disowning, recanting, recharting a hateful course of events to make sense of her own complicity. We all are, I suppose, trying to invent our version of the story. All human odes are essentially one. ‘My life: what I stole from history, and how I live with it,’” (492). What does this novel ultimately say about story-telling?
  11. Look again at the first and last chapter of the novel. Consider the ways in which the last chapter is a response to the first. Consider how the idea of “ruin” is reworked. Consider the significance of the okapi.
  12. Within the context of her novel, Kingsolver both introduces us to African concepts such as nommo and muntu and then goes a step further and requires us to accept those beliefs. Consider the significance of book 7, “The Eyes in the Trees” and its impact on the reader. What is Kingsolver doing with this final book of her Poisonwood Bible? Consider the significance of this quote: “The glide of belly on branch. The mouth thrown open wide, sky blue. I am all that is here. The eyes in the tree never blink. You plead with me your daughter sister sister for release, but I am no little beast and have no reason to judge. No teeth and no reason. If you feel and gnawing at your bones, that is only yourself, hungry,” (Kingsolver 537).

Assignment 2: The King James Version of the Holy Bible

The Bible and Greek and Roman Mythology are integral parts of Western literary canon. Nearly all novels, plays, and poems we will read throughout the school year will contain multiple allusions to these religions/mythologies. Authors rely on your knowledge of the Bible and mythology in order to further your understanding of their messages. In addition, the AP test frequently expects students to glean common allusions in the prose and poetry excerpts provided both on the multiple choice portion of the exam and on the essays.

Our reading in AP English Literature and Composition require knowledge of the most common biblical allusions. Read the assigned stories in the King James Version of the Bible and take notes; you will be tested on your knowledge on the first day of school.We will not be engaging in any religious discussions; we will be looking at the use of biblical stories in literature, and you will only be tested on your comprehension of the stories, not your beliefs. If you do not own a King James Version of the Bible, you can usually find one online, there are many aps that will let you download one for free, or you can check one out from the library.

Importance of Allusions in The Poisonwood Bible

In her “Author’s Note”, Barbara Kingsolver says that she “couldn’t have written the book at all without two remarkable sources of literary inspiration,” (ix); one of these, she states, is the King James Bible. Because Kingsolver herself recognizes the importance of the Bible as a source for her work, you need to understand her reliance on the Bible, especially the King James Version, as a textual source. Through her use of biblical allusions, Kingsolver adds a layer to her novel that is created by a completely different text. You must recognize the people and events to which she alludes in order to comprehend this significant layer of the novel.

Know who these characters are and the stories associated with them.

Rachel and Leah (Genesis 29-35) / Samson and Delilah(Judges 13-16) / Susanna, Joakim, and Daniel (This is in the Catholic Bible in Daniel 13; you can probably find it online.)
Adah (Genesis 4:19-23; 26:34; 36:2) / Daniel (entire book of Daniel) / Bel and the Dragon (This is in the Catholic Bible in Daniel 14; you can probably find it online.)
Ruth (entire book of Ruth) / Adam and Eve; Cain, Abel, Seth; Garden of Eden (Genesis 1-4) / Mt. Sinai 19:18-20:21)
Nathan (2 Samuel 7; 2 Samuel 12) / Simon Peter(Matthew 4, 10-14; 26:69-75; John 18:1-11)
Methuselah (Genesis 5: 22-27) / Noah (Genesis 5:28-9:29)
Moses (Exodus 1-14; 15: 22-17:7) / Tribes of Israel (Genesis 49)
Ham (Genesis 9:18-24) / Abraham; Lot’s wife (Genesis 11:29-23:20)
Job (entire book of Job) / Jezebel (1 Kings 16-21; 2 Kings 3-9)

Know these stories, books, and other important concepts.

Apocrypha (Google this) / Book of Judges / Song of Three Holy Children (Comes after Daniel 3:23 in the Catholic Bible. You can probably find it online.)
Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-14) / Book of Revelation
Ten Plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7:14-11:32) / 1 Corinthians
19th, 23rd, 66th, 100th, 121st, 137th Psalm / John 3:16
Parable of the Loaves and the Fish (Matthew 14:13-21) / Luke 22
Apocalypse (Google this) / Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

Please contact me if you have any questions over the summer.

Laura Lucero-Carrillo